MOVIE NEWS – Nicole Kidman, who plays a middle-aged boss, experiences her midlife crisis in a romance with her young intern. But who is playing whom? The actress recalled the filming of Babygirl, which will be released in theaters on January 30.

Halina Reijn, the director of the black comedy Bodies Bodies, returns with an erotic thriller inspired by the films Unfair Offer and Basic Instinct, among others. Babygirl had its world premiere at the Venice International Film Festival, and critics unanimously praised Nicole Kidman’s performance, calling it her bravest and best performance in recent times.

Romy (Nicole Kidman), a powerful CEO, risks her career and marriage when she begins a passionate affair with her much younger intern, Samuel (Harris Dickinson). Their romance, overheated with eroticism and filled with bizarre games, takes increasingly strange turns, and she becomes uncertain about who is really in control in their subordinate-superior relationship.

“I was excited. I was captivated. I was excited by the scenes, and then I was scared”

– Nicole Kidman recalled her first reading of the script to a Variety reporter. “I loved Romy. I loved Samuel [Harris Dickinson]. I loved Jacob [Antonio Banderas]. I was always surprised [by the script] because it never happened the way I expected it to. It really grabbed me. When I read it, I was Romy.”

“It’s visceral. It’s a visceral film, that was my first reaction. But there were things I didn’t understand because Romy didn’t understand what she was doing either. There were strange images that I wondered what they meant? But that was because it was a dream world mixed with a genre film.” – said the actress.

Director Halina Reijn gave the two leads a long list of films she recommended them to watch in preparation for The Little Mermaid. Nicole Kidman shelved this because she wanted to explore her character on her own. “Reijn harkened back to the erotic thrillers of the ’90s and turned them on their head by having a woman dominate,” Kidman said in an interview on BAFTA’s YouTube channel. “Reijn didn’t want the film to be a punishment where the woman loses her marriage and everything and it ends in tragedy. That’s why for me the film is about celebrating women and women’s pleasures.

Regarding the filming of the intimate scenes, both Kidman and Dickinson highlighted the trust they had not only between themselves but also with the cinematographer and, of course, the director. The intimate scenes were shot with a small crew. “There are moments when you feel incredibly vulnerable, exposed and naked. “But there are also moments that are very exciting, and hopefully we were able to capture those as well,” Kidman said.